Abstract: Researchers from the University of Maryland, the National Council of Applied Economic Research and AMS Consulting together with an interdisciplinary team of collaborators propose to field a youth supplement to the India Human Development Survey (IHDS-Y) focusing on a nationally representative sample of about 17,000 adolescents aged 14-18 across India. These households were first surveyed in 2004-2005. We have therefore a rich background of data on their schooling, human capital, family backgrounds, and local contexts. The substantive innovation of this research comes from a focus on adolescent life transitions during which families and communities must balance two competing and sometimes conflicting demands: providing adolescents with sufficient personal skills to cope with potentially risky situations while at the same time minimizing the likelihood that they are exposed to these risks. Specifically, the project will address the following questions: 1. How has the traditional, closely monitored, Indian transition to adulthood helped protect adolescents and young adults from risky behaviors? 2. How is the transition to adulthood changing in response to structural changes in Indian society - in particular to increases in wage labor, migration, secondary schooling, later ages at marriage, a growing middle class, and greater exposure to global culture? 3. How are the personal characteristics of the individuals - their human capital, social and emotional skills, and cultural capital - linked to behaviors which enhance protection from risky behavior? 4. How do families balance the competing demands of allowing adolescents enough independence to nurture these personal characteristics without exposing them to situations in which risky behavior (for both social and health risks) are more likely? The cultural, social and economic diversity of India provides a unique laboratory within which these issues can be studied. Gender and kinship patterns vary tremendously across India with consequent differences in the transitions to adulthood. India's dramatic economic growth is also regionally concentrated so the demands of new economic roles are not felt equally across the country. Locating personal development - education, self efficacy, gender role ideologies, communication ease, and other life skills - within this diversity allows us to trace the relationships from institutional contexts through personal characteristics to individual outcomes.